Willie's on the road to Ocala

Famed country crooner Willie Nelson is on the road again and heading to Ocala.

By Rick AllenStaff writer

Famed country crooner Willie Nelson is on the road again and heading to Ocala.

The Country Music Hall of Famer and winner of dozens of accolades, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement and Legend awards, is scheduled to perform one show at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, in the Circle Square Cultural Center at the On Top of the World complex.

Tickets for the general public go on sale Tuesday morning, priced at $90 and $100 apiece, limited to two per person. Online sales begin at 7 a.m.

On Top of the World residents were given a 24-hour advantage to buy tickets.

The stop in Ocala is part of the “outlaw” singer-songwriter's six-venue swing through Florida the first week of February, according to tour dates posted on willienelson.com.

A cancellation during the week helped bring Nelson here, said Jo Salyers, director of marketing for the sprawling complex on State Road 200 west of Ocala.

“We've had a standing offer into his camp for a couple of years,” she said. “We got a call saying they had a cancellation and asking if we would be interested in the date. We got everything signed in four days.”

Nelson is no stranger to the Ocala area; since 2001, he has performed at the Silver Springs attraction three times and at Rock Crusher Canyon in neighboring Citrus County once, in 2002.

“We surveyed our residents a few years back and asked that if we could get Willie Nelson, would they support the show,” Salyers said. “They overwhelmingly said yes, and they are.”

This is likely to be one of the more intimate venues on Nelson's schedule. The Circle Square Cultural Center seats 830; other stops seat more than twice that and his Silver Springs appearances in the past drew thousands of fans.